Ready For Salvation? – part 2
Isaiah 56:1-8 (2)
September 1, 2024
1 John 2:28-29 “Now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming. If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone also who practices righteousness is born of Him.”
That is really the issue isn’t it?
That when Christ does appear and returns to the earth that we not
“shrink away from Him in shame”.
We want to be those who are ready for the coming salvation of Christ.
That is what we are talking about here in the first 8 verses of Isaiah 56.
We just started this text this morning
So I won’t spend a long time recapping where we came from,
But only to remind you that
Isaiah is asking those who have been offered salvation
If they are ready for it.
• In chapter 53 Christ atoned for sinners
• In chapter 54 God offered that salvation to the helpless and hopeless
• In chapter 55 He offered it to the thirsty and hungry
And now in chapter 56 we are asking if anyone is ready for it.
This is NOT asking if you are ready to be forgiven.
This is asking if you are ready for Christ to return to the earth,
Which will be salvation for all those who know and love Him.
• Are you ready to stand before the Lord?
• Are you ready for that great sifting of the wheat and the tares?
• Are you ready for that great separation of the sheep from the goats?
Revelation 14:14-20 “Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and sitting on the cloud was one like a son of man, having a golden crown on His head and a sharp sickle in His hand. And another angel came out of the temple, crying out with a loud voice to Him who sat on the cloud, “Put in your sickle and reap, for the hour to reap has come, because the harvest of the earth is ripe.” Then He who sat on the cloud swung His sickle over the earth, and the earth was reaped. And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, and he also had a sharp sickle. Then another angel, the one who has power over fire, came out from the altar; and he called with a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, saying, “Put in your sharp sickle and gather the clusters from the vine of the earth, because her grapes are ripe.” So the angel swung his sickle to the earth and gathered the clusters from the vine of the earth, and threw them into the great wine press of the wrath of God. And the wine press was trodden outside the city, and blood came out from the wine press, up to the horses’ bridles, for a distance of two hundred miles.”
Two reapings there.
• One of His people into His barn.
• One of His enemies into His judgment.
Isaiah will speak about that in just a few chapters.
Isaiah 63:1-6 “Who is this who comes from Edom, With garments of glowing colors from Bozrah, This One who is majestic in His apparel, Marching in the greatness of His strength? “It is I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save.” Why is Your apparel red, And Your garments like the one who treads in the wine press? “I have trodden the wine trough alone, And from the peoples there was no man with Me. I also trod them in My anger And trampled them in My wrath; And their lifeblood is sprinkled on My garments, And I stained all My raiment. “For the day of vengeance was in My heart, And My year of redemption has come. “I looked, and there was no one to help, And I was astonished and there was no one to uphold; So My own arm brought salvation to Me, And My wrath upheld Me. “I trod down the peoples in My anger And made them drunk in My wrath, And I poured out their lifeblood on the earth.”
I simply remind you that this is no trivial matter.
We are talking about the full salvation of Christ.
• The day He returns to destroy the wicked that He may dwell on earth among His redeemed.
• That is the great day of the Lord.
• That day will be the completion of our salvation.
And the question we are asking is:
ARE YOU READY FOR THAT DAY?
Here in the first 8 verses of Isaiah we have been learning how to be ready.
We are learning about what is required to be ready.
#1 A STATED REQUIREMENT
Isaiah 56:1
Very simply put, “Preserve justice and do righteousness”
If you want to stand in the presence of Christ then be righteous.
• You must seek out the things that are right in His eyes and do them.
• You must be holy as He is holy.
• You must be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect.
And as we reminded this morning,
This only comes through faith in Jesus Christ.
When a person places their faith in Christ
They are justified in the sight of God
And credited with Christ’s own righteousness.
The stated requirement of God is that you be righteous.
And then we started, this morning, looking at the second point.
#2 A SERIOUS REQUIREMENT
Isaiah 56:2
We noted the seriousness because
We noted in play here is either the blessing or the curse.
Moses told us:
“See, I set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse, so choose life…”
It is similar to Joshua’s famous: “Choose you this day whom you will serve…as for me and my house we will serve the Lord.”
You can’t have both.
And Isaiah became specific to us
Regarding how a person obtains that blessing.
We said there are 3 truths here and we saw the first one this morning.
1) YOUR PURSUIT
“How blessed is the man who does this, And the son of man who takes hold of it;”
If you want the blessing
1. We must take hold of the righteousness which Christ provides.
2. And we must also pursue Christ-likeness in sanctification.
The pursuit of sanctification is a genuine characteristic of the redeemed.
So we talked about THE PURSUIT.
Let’s move on and continue talking about how one obtains that blessing.
2) YOUR PRIORITY
“How blessed is the man…who keeps from profaning the sabbath”
Well this one is certainly tricky for us
And one that will require some discussion
To understand what to do with it.
It is tricky for us because,
We would be those who would be accused of breaking the sabbath
Since we worship on Sunday and not on the sabbath which is Saturday.
So what do we do with a verse like this?
• We certainly do not just overlook this command.
• We certainly do not just pull out our black sharpie and mark it out.
Certainly what is said here matters to us.
Certainly what is said here is of great significance.
After all, we are talking about
Obtaining the blessing of Christ’s favor when He returns.
And here Isaiah says that one of the ways it is obtained is by keeping “from profaning the sabbath.”
So let’s talk a little bit about the sabbath and what we do with it.
You are certainly aware that
There are even quasi-Christian denominations today who hang their hat on the necessity of Saturday worship.
• They are called the “Seventh Day Adventists”.
• There is a small rise of what is called “The Hebrew Roots Movement” who does the same.
But we don’t.
• We worship on Sunday.
• We call it “The Lord’s Day” in memory of the day He rose from the dead.
But clearly here Isaiah speaks of not profaning the sabbath.
SO WHAT DO WE DO?
WELL FIRST OF ALL, and this doesn’t have a great deal to do with Isaiah’s point,
But let me explain to you why we are not in violation of the Law of God when we worship on Sunday.
There is actually a lot of Scripture that deals with this issue.
If we listen to Jesus:
TURN TO: MATTHEW 12:1-8
Jesus’ disciples (and really Jesus) were being condemned by the religious elite for what they considered to be a breaking of the sabbath.
• By snapping off the heads, rubbing them in their hand and then eating the grain
• The Pharisees found them guilty of reaping and threshing their crop which they held to be violation of sabbath law.
The first, and most obvious point is the lunacy of their command.
Anyone who calls that harvesting or threshing
Has never really harvested or threshed anything.
This was a petty attack.
But Jesus addressed it
And thus gave us some great insight regarding the truth about sabbath law.
FIRST the sabbath law never prohibited deeds of necessity;
• Like a man satisfying his hunger and Jesus spoke of how David ate the consecrated bread.
SECONDLY sabbath law clearly did not prohibit deeds of worship;
• Since no one works harder on the sabbath than a priest.
THIRDLY sabbath law does not restrict the Lord of the Sabbath from doing whatever He pleases.
• And that is very important. If Jesus says we can, we can.
And if you keep reading you’ll see
How Jesus walked right into the synagogue
And healed a man on the sabbath as He was prone to do.
Their sabbath laws had totally missed the point of the sabbath
And Jesus refused to participate in them.
THAT WOULD BE LIKE
Attending a church service on Sunday
• But no part of it included any worship of God or proclamation of His word.
• You would not feel inclined to continue to participate in that church even though it said “church” on the sign.
Jesus reveals to us that they had no clue what the sabbath was really for.
(and that’s true for these quasi groups today)
The writer of Hebrews gives us great insight about it:
TURN TO: HEBREWS 4:1-10
• There the writer of Hebrews points out how the children of Israel in the wilderness failed to enter God’s rest.
• God was angry at their sin and refused to let them enter the land of rest which flowed with milk and honey.
• Instead they were forced to wander in the wilderness for 40 years and ultimately die there.
But the writer of Hebrews wants you to know that
There is a spiritual application for us in that.
And it is based on what David says in Psalm 95.
(7-10)
And here is his point.
• Israel not entering God’s rest was an event that happened way in the past.
• We read of it way back in the book of Numbers.
• It was a historical event.
But when David comes along about 500 years later
He writes something interesting.
He writes, “Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts”
And if you know Psalm 95 you know
It ends with that same threat that “they shall not enter My rest”.
And the writer’s point is that
• If the issue of rest was only a historical issue for the people in the time of Moses
• Then David would not have warned his people about rest 500 years later.
Obviously this is an ongoing issue with the people of God.
The prospect for rest remains and in verse 10 it is clearly defined,
“For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His.”
What then is this sabbath rest?
• It is a rest from works.
• It is a rest from the works of trying to earn salvation.
Matthew 11:28-30 “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. “For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
The sabbath rest we enjoy
Is the exact same kind of rest God enjoyed at creation.
God rested on the seventh day because His work was finished.
• It could not be improved.
• It did not need to be renovated.
• Nothing else should be added.
And when Christ died on the cross He said, “It is finished!”
• All the work was done.
When a Christian trusts in Christ
They are resting on His finished work
And no longer see the need to earn what Christ has provided.
THAT IS THE ONGOING SABBATH REST WHICH WE ENJOY.
And as believers in Jesus we do not merely rest one day a week,
We rest every day of the week.
We rest in the finished work of Jesus.
That is what the sabbath was MEANT TO POINT TO,
But the Pharisees totally misunderstood it and so do many today.
In fact the apostles were adamant about this.
Colossians 2:16-23 “Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day— things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ. Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize by delighting in self-abasement and the worship of the angels, taking his stand on visions he has seen, inflated without cause by his fleshly mind, and not holding fast to the head, from whom the entire body, being supplied and held together by the joints and ligaments, grows with a growth which is from God. If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees, such as, “Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!” (which all refer to things destined to perish with use)—in accordance with the commandments and teachings of men? These are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence.”
Paul told the Colossians not to let anyone be their judge
Regarding those old ritualistic traditions including “a Sabbath day”.
Paul said those things look like wisdom
But in reality they totally miss the point.
Paul told the Romans:
Romans 14:5-9 “One person regards one day above another, another regards every day alike. Each person must be fully convinced in his own mind. He who observes the day, observes it for the Lord, and he who eats, does so for the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who eats not, for the Lord he does not eat, and gives thanks to God. For not one of us lives for himself, and not one dies for himself; for if we live, we live for the Lord, or if we die, we die for the Lord; therefore whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that He might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.”
• There is nothing special about a specific day.
• If a man uses a day to honor the Lord then leave him alone.
The issue is the love and service and worship of the Lord,
Not the specific day in which it occurs.
Now this does not nullify the command
• That we are to come together for corporate worship,
• It just removes the constraint as to what time that has to be.
It doesn’t matter if you meet on Saturday or on Sunday
So long as in your meeting it is to honor the finished work of Jesus.
Now that is just a simple explanation to you
Regarding where we stand on the sabbath here in the church.
And I just give you that because I know
Discussing the sabbath may be a little confusing to some.
But what we just discussed is NOT the point being made here in Isaiah.
There is a different point being made
And one that is very vital even to our understanding
Of what it means to be ready for the return of Christ.
Isaiah says, “How blessed is the man…who keeps from profaning the sabbath,”
That is to say that once again that blessing or the curse
Is uniquely tied to how the man addresses the sabbath.
So what is the issue?
THE ISSUE IS PRIORITY
That will actually become crystal clear to you
When we work a few verses further down in this text.
In verse 3
God gives assurance to both the Eunuch and the foreigner
• That Christ will accept even them when He comes,
• Provided they also fit the qualifications of righteousness.
But look at how Isaiah explains it to them.
(4) “For thus says the LORD, “To the eunuchs who keep My sabbaths, And choose what pleases Me, And hold fast My covenant.”
You see that Isaiah goes further to explain the issue.
• The issue is not just the observance of some day,
• But it is priority and faithfulness to God.
Not profaning the Sabbath was linked to choosing what is pleasing to God and holding fast to our commitment to God.
To stop your work and to stop your labor to earn a living for worship
Was a picture of devotion and commitment.
IT IS PRIORITY.
Look at what Isaiah says to the foreigner.
(6) “Also the foreigners who join themselves to the LORD, To minister to Him, and to love the name of the LORD, To be His servants, everyone who keeps from profaning the sabbath And holds fast My covenant;”
There again, it is thrown in to this greater list
That all speaks of devotion and priority and faithfulness.
And this was a real part of their understanding of the Sabbath.
On one hand we rest because Christ has done all the work.
• That is to say, we rest because we trust Him.
On the other hand we rest because Christ is satisfying and we will gladly forsake the world to honor Him.
• That is to say, we rest because we love Him.
This is the issue: PRIORITY
Isaiah will bring this even more to clarity in chapter 58.
You know Chapter 58
• Were the people are disillusioned because they have gathered on the sabbath and they have fasted
• And they don’t think God has answered and they want to know why.
Isaiah 58:3-5 “‘Why have we fasted and You do not see? Why have we humbled ourselves and You do not notice?’ Behold, on the day of your fast you find your desire, And drive hard all your workers. “Behold, you fast for contention and strife and to strike with a wicked fist. You do not fast like you do today to make your voice heard on high. “Is it a fast like this which I choose, a day for a man to humble himself? Is it for bowing one’s head like a reed And for spreading out sackcloth and ashes as a bed? Will you call this a fast, even an acceptable day to the LORD?”
There you see the problem.
• They gathered and they fasted, but it was totally manipulative.
• They just thought they could show up on the sabbath, do without a meal and God would somehow be obligated to grant their requests.
God’s response is:
• What you did isn’t fasting.
• What you did isn’t honoring the sabbath.
And then God will go into an explanation of what true fasting and sabbath honoring looks like.
Isaiah 58:7-8 “Is it not to divide your bread with the hungry And bring the homeless poor into the house; When you see the naked, to cover him; And not to hide yourself from your own flesh? “Then your light will break out like the dawn, And your recovery will speedily spring forth; And your righteousness will go before you; The glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.”
A true fast in God’s eyes
• Has to do with forsaking worldliness, which is very close to the purpose of the
sabbath as well.
• For one day a week you give up your pursuit of the world that you be devoted
to the worship of God.
And the chapter concludes with a great explanation:
Isaiah 58:13-14 “If because of the sabbath, you turn your foot From doing your own pleasure on My holy day, And call the sabbath a delight, the holy day of the LORD honorable, And honor it, desisting from your own ways, From seeking your own pleasure And speaking your own word, Then you will take delight in the LORD, And I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; And I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”
I hope you see the issue.
• God was looking for a day which was a day of worship.
• It was a day in which obtaining the world was rejected.
• It was a day in which caring the poor was focused on.
It was an act of worship.
Incidentally, you see a similar rebuke from Paul to the Corinthians
Who were coming together for the Lord’s Supper
But were making a mockery of it
Because of their gluttony and drunkenness.
Paul says to them:
1 Corinthians 11:20-22 “Therefore when you meet together, it is not to eat the Lord’s Supper, for in your eating each one takes his own supper first; and one is hungry and another is drunk. What! Do you not have houses in which to eat and drink? Or do you despise the church of God and shame those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you? In this I will not praise you.”
See how they claimed to come together for the worship of God but in reality they were pleasing themselves?
That was the problem of Isaiah 58.
That is also what is being addressed here in Isaiah 56.
God is looking for the man who is
Interested in forsaking the world for the glory of God.
Let me give you another good example.
TURN TO: JEREMIAH 17:19-27
Do you see the problem?
To them the Sabbath as a nuisance.
• It got in the way of their commerce.
• It got in the way of their money-making.
• For them worship of God was inconvenient and something that messed with
their plans.
Their heart was not in it and thus God was not pleased.
You see the same thing in Amos
Amos 8:4-6 “Hear this, you who trample the needy, to do away with the humble of the land, saying, “When will the new moon be over, So that we may sell grain, And the sabbath, that we may open the wheat market, To make the bushel smaller and the shekel bigger, And to cheat with dishonest scales, So as to buy the helpless for money And the needy for a pair of sandals, And that we may sell the refuse of the wheat?”
You see how the Sabbath was just a bother
• It was in the way of their money-making.
• They couldn’t wait for it to be over so they could get back to selling.
And God is not pleased with it.
SO WHAT IF THEY STOPPED AND WENT TO WORSHIP?
All they did was look at their watch eagerly wanting it to be over
So they could get on with their life.
Like we read at the beginning of Isaiah.
Isaiah 1:11-13 “What are your multiplied sacrifices to Me?” Says the LORD. “I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams And the fat of fed cattle; And I take no pleasure in the blood of bulls, lambs or goats. “When you come to appear before Me, Who requires of you this trampling of My courts? “Bring your worthless offerings no longer, Incense is an abomination to Me. New moon and sabbath, the calling of assemblies— I cannot endure iniquity and the solemn assembly.”
That is God asking if He is really supposed to be pleased with their presence when it is a nuisance for them to be there?
Do you understand the point?
WE ARE TALKING NOW ABOUT PRIORITY.
And this is what Isaiah is speaking of here in chapter 56.
When he talks about the blessing on the man who
“keeps from profaning My sabbath”,
He is talking about the man
Who rightly honors the priority of the worship of God.
And I find this to be incredibly relevant today.
Tonight you are in the minority in America simply because you came back for Sunday night church.
• Indeed many don’t even hold Sunday evening worship services any more.
• And the Lord’s Day has quickly become the Lord’s half-day.
Daniel and I were discussing this past week
A church advertisement we had both seen on social media where a church was talking about their Thursday night worship service.
But the reasoning this pastor gave for it is because
“People are now busy on Sunday and need an alternative time to meet.”
And one of the reasons he gave is because
He knows parents are busy with things like travel ball.
And that is where he lost me.
• I understand that we are no longer bound to a particular day of worship.
• I understand that we, in a sense, view all days alike.
But my question is simple this: WHERE IS THE PRIORITY?
Where is the man who will put aside the world
In order to participate in the corporate worship of God?
Because look, you and I know,
We could move the church services to Thursday night to accommodate for those who are busy on Sunday AND THAT WOULDN’T FIX A THING.
Then people would miss Thursdays because of something else.
• Well, JV and Jr High football is on Thursday night.
• Well, Thursday night is the only night we had to just be home.
• Well, they scheduled practice on Thursday night and we couldn’t miss it.
Moving the date doesn’t change a thing.
You are either committed to the corporate worship of God
Over the allurements of the world or you are not.
But let’s make sure and take this to its most fitting application.
We are NOT ONLY talking about attendance.
We are also talking about the proper attitude in attendance.
In Isaiah’s day they were profaning the sabbath,
And here is the wild thing,
THEY WERE PROFANING IT WHILE OBSERVING IT.
WHY?
Because they were there but didn’t want to be.
It was sort of like the way things used to be in America 40 years ago when there were “Blue Laws”.
• Men might as well go to church on Sunday because nothing else was open and
there wasn’t anything else to do anyway.
But now, because of all the alternative options it is a little easier to tell.
BUT THE QUESTION WE ARE ASKING
Is whether or not the Lord is a priority in your life?
And how does this fit the point?
Well, we are talking about being prepared for the return of the Lord.
Imagine the Lord returning on a Sunday morning or Sunday night.
• Where would you like for Him to find you? (as though He doesn’t already know)
Beyond that, we are talking about Him establishing a millennial kingdom that will center around the unending worship of Him.
• I mean, if you hate going to church, I must ask, what is your draw for going to heaven?
• What do you think heaven is going to be like? Vegas?
You either delight in the worship of God with the saints or you do not.
And where your heart rests there is incredibly telling
As to whether or not you are ready for the return of the Lord.
THE EARLY CHURCH
• Wanted to meet together so badly that they sold their property to be able to
fund the meetings.
• They opened their houses, they cooked meals, they couldn’t get enough.
It is a far cry from the ways the church has to bend over backward to make worship services more convenient.
But preacher, didn’t Jesus say if your ox is in a ditch that’s a good reason to miss?
Yes He did, and certainly that happens.
But it is amazing today how many things pass for oxen
And how many things look like ditches.
• My ox is in a ditch is not the equivalent of my football team is on tv
• My ox is in a ditch is not the equivalent of my kids have a ballgame
• My ox is in a ditch is not the equivalent of I needed some me-time
• My ox is in a ditch is not the equivalent of I needed some groceries
Try those excuses with your boss.
You won’t because making money
Is higher priority than corporate worship.
And look, I’m not trying to pick on anyone here,
I’m just trying to point out that priority matters.
If you want to be prepared for the return of the Lord
Then perhaps you ought to start giving Him priority now,
For He will certainly demand it when He comes.
THAT IS THE POINT.
And we’ll stop there,
But if you want to be prepared for Christ’s return,
If you want to obtain this blessing Isaiah speaks of.
Then check your pursuit and make sure you are pursuing righteousness.
And check your priority and make sure it is the worship and glory of God.
That is how you get prepared.
This is a serious requirement.
